Married to the Mob
by wishes of falling stars
Summary: Ichigo knows that he's marrying the girl of his dreams, Kuchiki Rukia. What he doesn't know is that he's marrying into Rukia's family- which coincidently, makes up the largest and most ruthless criminal organization in Karakura. Problems? Oh, yes...
1. Prologue

REVISION: IN PROGRESS

A/N: Huzzah! This story isn't dead. I've awakened from my long hibernation and am ready to write again (hopefully, if school doesn't manage to kill me first) After reading over it in a long time, I wasn't satisfied with my writing or where I thought the plot was going (to be honest, I forgot). So I decided to just rewrite it with some new plot elements I've thought up of (Cliffhangers galore, hint, hint) and better writing. The end result should be much better, but probably not perfect. But special thanks to everyone who reviewed before- I hope you like this version better as well.

On with the show!

* * *

The first thing you noticed about the room was the stench.

But stench wouldn't be the right word for the smell that pervaded the room; it assaulted your nose and intoxicated the brain with the heady aroma of cigars smoke and spices and just the faintest trace of something else, something familiar but unrecognized and inexplicably sinister.

The smell was thick and heavy, and just one breath seemed enough to fill up your lungs, but it was oddly addictive, alluring even.

And once you got accustomed to the smell, you noticed the walls, or more specifically, what was on the walls: nothing. The wallpaper was gray, like steel, and impossible to tell if it was originally that color or faded away, like all things, by time. The walls were grey, there were no windows, and there was little, if any light.

It looked like a prison.

And in the middle of the room, where the least light fell, there was a desk. A plain, wood desk. And sitting behind the desk was a man, a man so out of place; he seemed to be a figment of your imagination.

How wrong you would be.

The man was tall, impeccably dressed, and undeniably handsome. He had long black hair that fell elegantly to the collar of his rather expensive looking designer suit, a sharp, angular face with sculpted, almost noble cheekbones, and piercing cold eyes that were fixated on some papers, but kept glancing back to a silver watch on his left wrist, as if he was waiting for something.

A few minutes later, the door swung open, and a tall, young man strode in, with his face and hair covered by the hood of a beaten, leather jacket.

"You're Late," the man said without looking up.

"Tch," the stranger scoffed as he took off his hood, revealing a shock of tomato-red hair and tribal tattoo markings. "When am I not?"

"When you want a job better than delivery boy, Renji"

Renji cursed. "Is that why I've been doing all these shitty assignments? Taicho, come on, it's not like I don't get things done—I'm bored, I want something better to do than talk to crazy old scientists—I haven't had a REAL job in for—"

The man held out his hand. "The letter?"

Renji sighed, took out a tiny white envelope from his pocket, and handed it over.

"He says that he has a hunch on where it is, and not to expect the delivery to come next week, but the week after that, unexpected delays or something like that." Renji muttered.

The man silently read over the letter and nodded. "Anything else?"

"Yeah. Ikkauku's out with a bad head injury, no one knows why or how, Mayuri started working on a new project, top secret, won't let anyone in to see what it is—_as if he needed to_— There's another captain's meeting this week, same place—"

The man waved his hand dismissively. "You're dismissed."

But Renji's face darkened, and quietly, fluidly, he pulled out a crinkled, yellowed newspaper from his jacket, smoothed it out, opened it, and set it on his desk.

"I wasn't finished, taicho. Look at the picture."

The fancy, bold font up top caught his attention first. "The wedding section? As you well know, I have no care for such things," he said coldly.

"Look at the picture," Renji assisted.

And he saw it. It couldn't be. She must've have been caught off guard, for she wasn't looking straight ahead and she was smiling, naturally, because he knew she never took good photos. It was her. The same small face, dark hair that always fell in her face, wide, purple eyes that he had not seen for six years. It was impossible—she was gone, had disappeared, died—checks in the record, missing persons alert, searches; nothing, nobody had found her. But the picture in front of him was unmistakebly, impossibly hers. _You... _

"She's getting _married_." Renji spat out, bitterly, disgustedly; it was hard to tell the emotion in his voice.

_Married…_He read the headline for the picture_. Congratulations to Kurosaki Ichigo and Kuroichou Rukia on their upcoming Nupitals!_

She hadn't even changed her name.

His sister.

Married.

_To one of them. _

He put the paper down slowly.

"Renji, I have a job for you to do…"

* * *

Not a lot of change. But that's gonna change soon :)


	2. The Calm Before the Storm

Disclaimer: I only own the bleach in Tide containers.

Hope you like it. Actually got it done reasonably fast-Yay! Don't expect updates to be this fast in the future. Ichigo's less of a jerk in here. I'm taking it in chunks now, so hopefully it'll be easier to read. Forget my blathering, here's chapter 2:

* * *

_12:31 AM- Karakurachō Church, Room 5A_

Something was not right with this picture.

For one thing, he was wearing makeup.

Not a lot, mind you, just some powder stuff people had brushed on his face so fast he almost choked. But still, he was wearing makeup. Something, as a straight, heterosexual man he had sworn never to do. _Yeah, that turned out real well, _he thought sarcastically. Rubbing it off or washing his face didn't seem to do anything but get it all over his face _and_ hands, so he just left it there, and hoped that no one would notice.

_Especially not Kon…_he shuddered_. I'd never be able to live that sort of thing down…_

Secondly, he was wearing a suit. He didn't have anything against suits in particular; they were fine on occasion, but he felt like he couldn't breathe, like the tie was working on its own accord to choke him. Then again, his dad had tied it for him, so he could never be sure…

And lastly, and probably most importantly, Rukia wasn't with him. He had tried to go see her earlier, but he ran into Tatsuki, who _literally_ kicked him out of the hallway, yelling about tradition and not seeing the bride before the wedding.

He decided not to risk another bruise on his shin (_or one on his pride)_.

But it was driving him insane just pacing around in his room, waiting for it to start. Maybe it was pre-wedding nerves-_ohfuckinggodI'mgettingmarried—_but he yearned desperately just to be able to hold her in his arms, look into those wide, purple eyes, to know that everything would be fine and just get married and live happily—

"I should've eloped," he said aloud "Then I wouldn't have to deal with all of this," But even as he said it, he knew he wouldn't have been able to go through with it; it meant too much to his family for him to do otherwise.

He looked around the room. It was clean, white, with a long mirror and desk in one corner and vases of red roses on everything else. But no alcohol. He put his head in his hands and groaned. The least anyone could do was leave him a little bit of scotch or brandy or something to calm down his nerves, but apparently the décor of a room no one else would ever see was more important than the groom's mindset, and he had no idea, why all of a sudden he started breaking down and talking like this—

He looked down and realized that he was pacing in front of the desk, and stopped to look in the mirror. He thought, not vainly, that he looked good, handsome even, in this black suit—who was it from again? Ichigo couldn't remember—but he looked the same as usual: same eyes, same scowl, same orange hair. He didn't look like he was just about to get married.

But instinctively, he knew he was elated, overjoyous, whatever you called it—he felt it, felt it in every pore of his body at the thought of marrying the woman he loved. And he does love her. So much. Somewhere in between the shouting matches and prank wars, he fell in love with a midget whose self proclaimed greatest possession was an old Chappy doll and who knew exactly which spots to hit to get the best response of pain _damn violent bitch._

He loves her, and he knows that.

He's not a romantic, _and for that matter, neither is she_, but he knows that she's the one, and he'll never be satisfied or happy with anyone else for the rest of his life, he'll never settle for anyone else. From this moment forward, they'll be husband and wife, and Ichigo is suddenly struck at the sheerness of it all. What one little kiss, three little words will change for them.

He's never been happier in his life.

_So why do you feel like something very, very bad is going to happen?_

He's never believed in any crazy voodoo stories, stupid little superstitions, but he can't get the sinking sensation of dread out of his mind, and he'll go crazy if he's left in this room all by himself, while the paranoia in his mind grows. He knows that there's absolutely no reason, no reason whatsoever for him to feel this way—It's his wedding, nothing's going to happen except for the fact that everyone will start crying and he and Rukia are going to get married—but in the back of his mind he imagines an empty space beside at him at the altar, a shadow hiding behind the white wall watching him, waiting for it all to happen…

"IIIICHIIIIGO!"

The door swung open, and the groom to be went down like a falling stone.

"OHOHOHOHO! MY DARLING SON! IT SEEMS THE JOYS OF HOLY MATRIMONY HAVE DULLED YOUR SENSES TO ATTACK AND ASSAULT! HOWEVER WILL YOU PROTECT YOUR BLUSHING BRIDE NOW FROM THE RUFFIANS THAT WILL SURELY STEAL HER—

POW! Ichigo's fist connected painfully with his father's now crumpled face.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING? IT'S MY WEDDING DAY!"

Waterfalls were streaming down Isshin's face as he knelt prayer-like on the ground. "HIT ME HARDER, ICHIGO! A TRUE CRIMINAL WOULD NOT BE AS KIND TO YOU, AS I HAVE BEEN, MY BEAUTFIUL SON WHOM I LOVE SO MUCH I COULD NOT BEAR CAUSING PAIN TO!

"_Splutter_—YOU—WHY CAN'T YOU BE NORMAL?" Veins pulsed dangerously in Ichigo's head. _Of all the company to have…_

The door opened again.

"Believe me, I've been asking that question ever since I could talk."

"KARIN! COME TO MY FATHERLY BOSOM AS WE EMBRACE AND COMFORT EACH OTHER IN OUR INCONSOLAB—

POW! "Shut up, old man."

"Daddy, You really shouldn't tackle Ichi-ni—It's his wedding and everything, and you might get his suit dirty and I didn't even bring an iron—"

"YUZU, COME TO PAPA—"

Crash! 'SHUT UP!" Karin and Ichigo simultaneously punched, and Isshin flew into the nearest vase of flowers, wondering if maybe he shouldn't have forced them to take karate lessons all those years ago, before he slumped over on the desk.

Unperturbed, Ichigo turned to his sisters. "What are you guys doing here?"

"Just wishing you congratulations on the wedding—" Yuzu smiled

"and making sure that you're not peeing in your pants from nerves—" Karin smirked.

He groaned. "Hey, look, it's not such a big deal. I'm perfectly fine; it's not like Rukia and me are having a baby or anything—

"GRANDCHILDREN? WHERE?"

-we're just making our relationship legal in the eyes of the church and state, nothing's really going to change."

"But," Yuzu looked downward hesitantly before taking Ichigo's hands, surprising him. "It is going to be different; you're not going to stay with us anymore or check up on us like you used to because you'll be living with Rukia-onii san and taking care of your kids, and…Ichi-ni, I'm going to miss you, I'm going to miss you so much Ichi-ni."

"Yuzu…"

She sniffled, but gave him a dazzling smile, "It's ok, I'm fine, I just want you to be happy. You're the best brother ever, Ichi-ni, and you can still visit. I know you and Rukia are going to live happily ever after, just like they do in the story tales."

Karin cut in, saving him from having to reply.

"Relax, I'm not gonna get all weepy or anything like Yuzu. But I am going to tell your something: You two are perfect for each other. Even though you're a bonehead idiot and you never put your socks in the washer with the rest of your clothes, she loves you. And it's a good thing she's Rukia, because someone like you doesn't deserve anything less; plus you need someone to boss you around and tell you to do things when you don't have me and Yuzu anymore."

The words he wanted to tell them wouldn't come out right. _They came here for me_. Then, unexpectedly, he engulfed both girls in a hug, and whispered in Karin's ear. "Hmph, I always put my socks in the washer, they were always just on the bottom. And I don't need another little sister to tell me what to do"

"That's what you said last time too, you know," she smiled.

"SUCH LOVING SIBLING REVELRY—LET ME JOIN YOUR BEAUTIFUL DISPLAY OF FAMILY TENDERNESS!"

"…"

"Come on Yuzu, let's go get our seats."

"Mmmm, ok! Don't worry Ichi-ni, everything'll turn out great, see you later~"

And with that, the Kurosaki sisters, one smiling, one scowling, left the room, and Isshin, with a light in his eye, turned to face his only son.

"Congratulations, Ichigo. Rukia's a fine woman."

"…Thanks…"

Isshin let out a small chuckle and clasped a hand on his shoulders. "Look at how much you've grown. It'll probably just embarrass you even further, but I still remember the smiling kid you used to be, the one that used to call me Daddy and showed me artwork from school…You know, the most painful and most rewarding thing I've ever done, not just as a parent, but as a human being, is to have seen you, Karin, and Yuzu grow up and change before my eyes, and not being able to help during those bad times—"

He smiled wistfully, and for the first time, Ichigo thought his father looked _old_.

"Anyways, you're a good kid, whether it was from any influence from me or not. Don't let your temper, stubbornness, or secretive attitude get in the way. Just remember that married life isn't the same as dating or the honeymoon; marriage is a life commitment for better or worse, and trust me, sometimes it will be worse, but the important thing is to get over the differences and fights at the end of the day, and remember why you love and trust this person."

And then it all spilled out of him.

"…I don't know, I love her and I know that I want to be with her with the rest of my life, but I still can't believe that I'm getting married today, can't believe that something this big is about to happen to me, and I just feel like something's gonna go bad, but…"

Isshin stopped and thought for a minute, and then punched Ichigo in the shoulder, causing him to wince.

"Pull yourself together. You have to solve your own problem this time, I can't do it for you. Just know that whatever you do, do it right and with all your heart."

"…"

The church bells rang in the distance, and both knew it was almost time.

Father and son stood up man to man, face to face.

"I'm proud of you son. I know your mom would be too."

"Thanks…Dad."

And with that, Isshin strode out of the door, Ichigo followed, and none of them realized the blinking red light, hidden behind the roses, that had been recording them the whole time.

* * *

_?:?-Inside the church_

"_You got the tape?"_

"_Kept talking all through it. Never even noticed it was there."_

"_Bunch of sitting dumbasses."_

"_I believe the term is sitting ducks."_

"_Whatever…What we here, doing all this stinkin' shit for? What's this got to do with anything?"_

"_If you weren't such an idiot, maybe you would know."_

"_Watch it, buddy. You're lucky that I'd get in a lot of trouble if shot you right now. "_

"_Please do not refer to me in such terms."_

"_Out of all the people to work with, I got stuck with you. Fucking perfect."_

"…_There's the signal. Move out."_

" '_Bout damn time."_

_

* * *

_

1:32 PM- Karakurachō Church Chapel

Ichigo couldn't breathe.

The church was decorated with pure white blossoms and colored gossamer streamers, men were gazing proudly, the women were sobbing quietly, the sky was blue, the sun was shining, and music was playing.

But none of it mattered.

What mattered right now was the woman, no angel, that was in front of him, and she was so beautifulthat he wondered if he went to heaven and died a little early, and if he did he wouldn't complain because he had never seen Rukia look so wonderful and beautiful and happy, and nothing had prepared him for this kind of happiness.

He tried to memorize every little detail of her hair, of her dress, the way her veil kissed her shoulders, her slow, steady steps, the glimmer in her eyes—she was beautiful and she was Rukia, and he really didn't know any other way to describe it.

He almost didn't notice when she was right there beside him, and then when he did, he became acutely aware of her, right by him, and the words of the priest seemed to be coming through a veil of water…

"_Dearly Beloved, we are gathered here today in the presence of these witnesses, to join_

She smirked up at him with mischief in her violet eyes. "You clean up well," she whispered.

He hoped he didn't look as stupid and awe-struck as he felt. "You don't look half-bad, either midget."

"_Kuroichou Rukia and Kurosaki Ichigo in matrimony_"

"Strawberry"

"_which is commended to be honorable among all men;"_

"Rabbit Freak"

"_and therefore – is not by any – to be entered into unadvisedly or lightly" _

"Asshole"

_but reverently, discreetly, advisedly and solemnly"_

"Bitch"

"_Into this holy estate these two persons present now come to be joined,."_

"Blondie"

_If any person can show just cause why they may not be joined together_

"How many times do I have to tell you, it's not blonde, it's—"

"_Strawberry_ blonde"

– _let them speak now or forever hold their peace._

He half opened his mouth, then shut it and glared at an innocently smiling Rukia.

The church was so quiet, he could hear himself breathe.

"Do you, Kurosaki Ichigo, take Kuroichou Rukia, as your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish; from this day forward until death do you part"

He looked in those swirling violet eyes, and he felt his answer move from his lips before he could think.

"Yes."

"And do you, Kuroichou Rukia, take Kurosaki Ichigo, as your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish; from this day forward until death do you part"

And she looked back, and determinedly, and firmly said,

"Yes, I do."

"Then," he saw the minister turn slowly to face him, and he was aware of a hundred different emotions that were raging in his stomach and the precise color of the sky and her eyes, and—

"You may kiss the bride."

She leaned up as he knelt down to taste those beautiful, cherry-red, lips—

And all Hell broke loose.


	3. Everything Goes Wrong

A/N: So yeah...I'm not dead. Yay! To be honest, I have no idea if anyone will still read this story now, it's been like, what 6 months since my last update? I'm a terrible procrastinating, no-good, lazy bum and I really am sorry for that. Hopefully, you enjoy this chapter- I had a blast writing it, although I'm not too happy with certain aspects of it, namely Rukia's characterization and a tiny mention of my favorite espada...pooh. Don't expect next chapter to come up any time soon as I'm swamped with stuff in life right now, but it'll probably be earlier than 6 months. Probably.

**Warning**: Violence. If you get really squeamish reading about blood or wounds, this chapter probably isn't for you. Nothing too bad but what do you expect? It's a mob story, so it's gotta have some of it or else it just turns into...Gossip Girl or something.

* * *

_Karakurachō Church, main chapel_

CRACK!

The priest toppled towards them, writhing in pain as bright red blood gushed from a small hole in the center of his white habit.

Rukia screamed.

Ichigo forgot to breathe. Wha—

CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!

It happened so quickly, the priest seemed to move backwards by some invisible force, the organ rang, the left wood cabinet splintered, and he felt something whiz past the very tips of his ear and bury itself into the nearest pedestal.

It was a shining, iron bullet.

Blood was pouring from the now motionless body onto the stairs and to the walkway, like a stream of water feeding into a river.

And in that moment, all hell broke loose.

Tables were overturned, pews were pushed to the side, drinks and cake and cups were strewn over the floor, trampled by the stampede of wedding guests and tripping a few, who then disappeared in the crowd, lost in a flurry of silks and limbs.

Gentlemen in their finest suits, Ladies in their bright dresses, children in their cutest clothes—everyone was screaming, screaming so loudly that the voices amalgamated into one deafening hubbub of high shrieks and drowned-out voices, punctuated by cracks of gunshot so loud that even the roar of a hundred or so voices could not drown them out, as they all rushed to the only exit in the cathedral, like a swarm of angry bees.

Splotches of red appeared on white church walls, and it was impossible to tell whether it was blood or just cherry punch, just as for those who fell, you could not tell if they had been shot or overcome by the pressure of the uncontrollable crowd.

It was sheer and utter chaos.

And Ichigo stood, in shock, above the main floor, watching it all play out.

This couldn't be happening…

Not on his wedding day…

CRACK!

A stray bullet lodged itself in the pedestal on which he was unconsciously leaning on for support.

It jolted him into awareness.

"RUKIA!" He yelled.

In all this racket, he could hardly his voice, let alone what he was saying.

"RUKIA! RUKIA!" he persisted as he scanned the room, looking for any sign of black hair, violet eyes, white dress…

There! Over by the far side organ!

He raced over to the opposite side of the room, pushing through walls of flesh and avoiding any stray elbows, knees, or bodies that suddenly appeared in his vision as he made his way over to the mass of droopen white silk.

"Rukia!" he exclaimed softly as he knelt down, her face hidden in the depths of her dress and her back turned towards him.

She was heaving silently, as though she had run a great distance.

Instantly, a burden was lifted from him. She was safe.

"Hey, are you okay?"

She gasped.

"Rukia?"

"It's all my fault, It's all my fault, It's all my fault, itsallmyfault…"

"What? What are you talking about?"

She shuddered. "I'm so sorry Ichigo, So stupid and incompetent …I should've known better, I should've known better…"

"What are you talking about? Rukia, you're not making any sense…"

"allmyfaultallmyfault"

He turned her over so that she faced him. Her face was paler than the moon, her lips were blue, and her purple eyes darted fretfully around the room.

He saw the problem at once.

Covered by her slumping body, in the meaty part of her shoulder, where tendons, ligaments, and bone met, there was an ugly bullet wound, which thankfully, (as he controlled his shaking hands) didn't look too deep or severe. He could even see the tip of the bullet shell, which meant that it would be easy to take out. _It—It shouldn't haveeven been there inthefirstplace._

He was going to _kill_ whoever did this to her.

Torn with the unquenching rage to find the person who did this and hunt them down and the desire, no need to make sure that Rukia was safe, he took a couple of large gulps of air and tried to calm himself.

The most important thing right now was to make sure that Rukia would be okay.

No antibiotics. No cleaning utensils. No gloves. No scapel. He sighed.

He still could barely hear himself think.

He held her hand reassuringly. "I have to take this out, or else it might get infected. I'm not gonna lie, it's going to hurt like hell, but thankfully, it's not in too deep so getting it out should only take a second. So on the count of three…"

"1…"

"2…"

She gripped his hand hard.

"3…" He took it out as quickly as he could.

She hissed, but did not shout, and he ripped off part of her veil and wrapped it around her arm as a makeshift bandage.

"Ichigo…You…You need to go."

"Yeah, and you need to come with me— I only took out the bullet, I didn't even treat the wound, and that bandage isn't going to last forever—You need to get to the hospital!"

Some color was flooding back into her cheeks again, but her lips were still blue and her hands were shaking.

"Leave me…Go find your family and make sure they're safe."

His family. His stomach sank out of his body. How could he have forgotten them?

"DAD!" "YUZU!"

"KARIN!"

It was a mess.

He desperately searched the crowd.

How was he ever going to find them?

Thoughts of Karin and Yuzu, blood trickling down their forheads…

No! He couldn't think like that. Dad was with them, he reassured himself. He wouldn't let anything with them, he'd make sure that they were all okay.

They were all okay. They had to be.

Right now he had to focus on Rukia. Once she was safe, he'd go back in find his family.

He scooped her up in his arms, bridal style_, what irony…_he thought_, _taking care not to touch her shoulder and looked for the exit.

"Hey, don't worry, I'm gonna get you to the hospital as fast as I can, you just relax…"

"You can't be with me, You have to go! Now! Before it's too late!" she squirmed in his grasp.

"Oy, midget, you're in clinical shock." he told her. "Stop squirming, you might reopen your wound again, and I'm not sure if I can stanch it again. You're in no condition to tell me to desert you, and I'm going to get you to that hospital even if it kills me, got it?"

"You idiot! You have no idea what you're doing!"

He would, but how? There was no way he was taking her through that crowd. He wouldn't even make it two steps before someone knocked him down and reopened Rukia's injury. Normally, she was tough as nails, and he would have no problem barreling their way through the crowd to find his family, but how long had that wound been dripping out blood before he treated it? How much blood had she lost? How much of it could she afford to lose…

He couldn't risk that.

There had to be another way.

The door was out of question, the windows were too high up for them to climb out of, the two stage entrances were just two ends of the same tunnel, maybe they could hide in there until everything died down, but she needed medical attention as soon as possible…

"The altar…"she coughed.

"What?"

"There's a door, by the altar…It's the one the priest came in, it leads to the sanctuary in the back, we can leave there…"

"Wait—How do you know that?"

"Because I actually paid attention…on that tour they gave us the week before…you numbskull."

It was good enough for him.

He carried her as quickly as he could over to the giant cross altar, which was thankfully deserted, save for the priest's shrunken body.

_He was going to throw up, throw up, throw up_. Ichigo tried not to look at him.

"Rukia, where's the door?"

"It's…disguised as the two oaken wood panels right behind it…"

He tried pulling on the ornamentations that jutted out where a handle would've been on a normal door.

They didn't budge.

He tried pushing them, pulling on one and pushing on the other, squeezing and pushing on the crack from the inside, etc. but to no avail. How did the priests work this damn thing in the first place? Why even bother having a secret door if you couldn't even go through it in the first place? He punched the wall in frustration.

It didn't do anything, but it made him feel better.

"Ichigo, you moron, we're trying to go through the door, not bust it open and alert the entire world to our presence! "

"Rukia, are you sure there's even a door here?"

"Well if someone had been paying attention when we were planning our actual wedding…."

"Oh, I'm so sorry, oh wise one, but how do you open the fricken' door?"

"I think…you have to push it from the very middle, where the two panels meet…" she pointed at a vague area around a thick line.

"You think?"

"Shut up. I'm hurt, so just do as I say."

"Glad to know you're feeling better."

She was the one who knew about the door in the first place, and it wasn't like he had any other idea, so he got up and pushed on the doors with all his strength.

"Come on..." Sweat dripped down his forehead as he shook the oak panels. "Open up, you damn little buggers, open up!"

He swore he heard a slight creak.

His arms were burning and sweat was dripping in his eyes, but he kept pushing,( _almost there…almost there…)_ for his family, for Rukia, and with a massive yell and a final shove, the doors let out a mighty groan and slowly swung outward, revealing a small, dark passageway and—

_A person? _

CRACK!

_Pain._ It felt like fire in his blood, and it spread all over his body and locked his mind in an iron cage. He slumped over and tried to breathe, but it hurt, and instead he coughed something up and it tasted like metallic and wet, like blood.

"Ichigo!"ICHIGO!"

He could hear screams, not his, but Rukia, and he wanted to tell her that he was okay, so he tried to make the sounds "I'm okay—" but instantly, his chest felt like it was being ripped in two. He had to cough, and the blood trickled gently out of his mouth.

He looked down at what hurt so much. It was bloody and red and black, and it covered the right center part of his chest, inches away from his heart.

_I've been shot._

Black spots were appearing in his vision, and he tried blinking furiously to make them go away. He heard quiet sobbing, and felt salty drops of water hit his face. "I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry…" Was that Rukia? She had to get away from here…

"G-o…Get…awa..from…here…S-…save…yourself…"

The tears stopped.

"Ichigo…You're alive…?"

He heard the thud of the footsteps, saw the white figure in the distance get closer before she did.

"T-They're…Coming…Go…back…"

She held one shaky finger to his lips, but her voice held quiet confidence.

"It's fine, everything's going to made right again, I promise."

The footsteps stopped. He looked straight into a pair of large, black boots.

"Damn. I didn't kill him."

He looked up. A teal haired man with a strange skull mask and a roman numeral six on his arm grinned at him, and took out a pistol, and cocked it, straight at his head.

"I'll have to change that."

"NO!"

Suddenly, the man disappeared. He saw the back of a white wedding dress and a red armband. _No…_

"I know who you are, and I know what you want. I'll come quietly, if you promise to leave this man alone."

The man laughed, a rich, humorless sound. "Come quietly?"he mocked, and twirled his gun around his fingers, before pointing it at her, "I don't know if you realized, _Shinigami_ , but you're in no position or condition to demand anything from me"

"He's just a civilian, he doesn't have anything to do with this—You can't kill him, not under the Shinigami Code—" she protested.

"Times change, shinigami. Now it's all about the job and what you can get for it. Anyways, I'm not supposed to leave any witnesses alive you see, and well, I always finish my jobs. Always." He smirked. "But I'll make an exception for you."

"So why don't you be a good little girl and come with me. Just to be generous, I'll pretend that I never saw carrot-top here in the first place and make something up about him getting hit with a stray bullet. Everyone's happy."

He wasn't happy…but if only he had the strength to get up and say so…

"R-Rukia…S-Save your…self…"

"What's it going to be, _Kuchiki_?

She darted back helplessly between the two, and for all the gravity and impossibility of the situation, looked like a little kid caught stealing cookies by both her parents.

Why was she even considering it? Her life was infinitely more valuable and precious than his own, and he would live—if not, then at least he would make sure that she did not share his fate...

But he saw the steely determination in the clench of her fists, in the firm line of her lips and some wild strength poured through his body as he saw her mouth move—

"I'll go"

_No!_

He shifted his arms, slightly, moving them in front of his face, so he was in a pushup position and _lifted_.

Throbbing black assaulted his vision, and he bit back the screams with the taste of blood in his mouth, moving one herculean inch by inch.

The teal man smirked. "Pathetic, giving up your one chance at freedom with a stupid guy like him—You shinigami are so pre—

He stood for only a second before he lunged towards the man's back.

CRACK!

He was aware of another pain in his shoulder, although it didn't hurt as much as everything had gone cold and numb, and he saw Rukia and the teal haired man with shock in their eyes and white and green tears at the end of the tunnel—

"You were careless, Grimmjow"

"ICHIGO!"

_Rukia…_

And he crumpled like a falling building, succumbing to the darkness of unconsciousness before he hit the floor.

* * *

_?_

He woke up.

It hurt.

Everything was too bright, too light, he needed darkness and quiet and rest and he vainly tried to close his eyes to the room around him.

Room?

Where was he?

Slowly, he reopened his eyes and adjusted to the bright lighting of the room. It was grayish, small—and there was a wood desk smack dab in front of him.

And someone was sitting in it.

Where was he? He had to find out, and sat up to get out of the chair. There was a sharp, stinging pain in his chest (he winced) and he couldn't move. He looked down, and his hands were tied down to the hard armrests with _coiled rope_.

What was going on? Where was-

The man at the desk leaned forward, with eyes as black as coal.

"Where is she?"

* * *

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